Watch Suger Pie DeSanto perform ‘Rock Me Baby’ in the UK in 1964:
Born Umpeylia Balinton in Brooklyn, New York, in 1935, Sugar Pie DeSanto was nicknamed ‘Little Miss Sugar Pie’ by bandleader Johnny Otis when she made her first recording with him in 1955. An amazing R’n'B singer, her single ‘I Want To Know’ was a big hit in the States in 1960 and led to her being signed to Chess Records, where she wrote numerous songs for the likes of Fontella Bass, Minnie Ripperton, Etta James, and Sam and Dave. After touring as James Brown’s opening act for two years, she was the only female act on the bill of the American Folk Blues Festival’s European tour alongside artists such as Willie Dixon and Sonny Boy Williamson in 1964. A singer much beloved by mods, she performed at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond (on the same bill as the Moody Blues!) that same year, and appeared at the Marquee club in 1965. Now recognised as a leading light in the Bay Area group of artists (her family moved to San Francisco when she was a young child), Sugar Pie continues to deliver dynamic live performances.